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The Final Destination Review

Paul Young — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:07:31 +0000

Short Version: The Final Destination is poorly written, poorly executed, and poorly acted -but still managed to “kill” at the box office on its opening weekend.

Screen Rant’s Paul Young reviews Final Destination

While Vic (Screen Rant head honcho) gets to review all the good movies like Inglourious Basterds, District 9 and even G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, I’m stuck watching I volunteer to watch the movies no one else wants to see. So, when I walked into The Final Destination tonight firmly grasping the my flimsy short straw, I fully expected the worst, planned for no better than OK and hoped for the best.

Guess which one I got?

It’s mostly my fault I suppose. I had to choose wisely between either The Final Destination or Halloween 2, which is sort of like choosing wisely between a kid to hitting me in the crotch with either a baseball bat or a golf club. But like a good reviewer, I cinched up my petticoat and walked blindly into the awaiting danger, screaming at that kid with the blunt ball-busting instrument: “COME ON KID! GIVE ME YOUR BEST SHOT! I CAN TAKE IT!”

Well, it would seem that I can’t take it – and after 80 grueling, boring, predictable minutes, I hobbled out of the theater with a bag of ice strapped to my crotch as the kid ridiculed me, pointing and laughing at my intense displeasure. And much like my flimsy straw, The Final Destination was just as flimsy in plot, characters, FX and ending.

The Final Destination, which is the official title because supposedly “The” implies it’s the last of the quadrilogy, fails with just about every task it sets out to accomplish. I’ll start with the 3D aspect of the film. I’m so tired of the worn out, generic, feeble (NAY, pathetic) attempts of directors today to use 3D technology. Every 3D scene in the movie is predictable and most, if not all, were done in very bad CGI (not G.I. Joe-bad mind, you but still pretty sad). They start out decent enough, with race cars driving into your face but then quickly move to the old stand-by “lookout here comes a flying object towards you so duck like you believe something is actually leaving the screen and going to hit you in the face” routine. In fact, after the race scene, most of the 3D “effects” (and I use that term for lack of a better descriptive word) are objects flying at our faces.

They even throw in the obligatory “CGI champagne cork popping up in the air” scene – and it was about that time I audibly groaned. At this point, I wondered why they didn’t just have someone stand in front of the camera for twenty minutes pushing a stick in and out at the audience making a “Ohhhhhh” sound to get the most of their 3D budget. (Kid-1 Paul -0)

I really did enjoy the first two Final Destination films, the third wasn’t so hot, but each of them had the same writer so I figured if he was back for this one then at least the story would be decent. Only time I have ever been more wrong was Spring Break in Key West at a club called Diva’s with a “girl” named Adam.

Eric Bress and Jeffery Reddick are on full cruise control here, giving us characters we absolutely care nothing about, therefore have no vested interest in whether they live or die. The only actor worth mentioning is Mykelti Williamson as the security guard. He is given the funniest scene of the film and some of the best lines but without giving anything away, let’s just say that Mykelti and L.L. Cool J have nothing in common.

For reasons that escaped me, the writers decided to throw in a hefty serving of stereotyping. We’re given two different types of rednecks at the race track, the obnoxious white trash dirt bag with a cute girl and the racist hell-bent on burning a cross in the front yard of the security guard on whom he blames his wife’s death; and to round out the southern stereotype, both rednecks work in the automotive industry, one is a custom car mechanic and the other drives a tow truck and drinks beer.

The girls in the film are drab and unimportant and for the most part written as overly emotional and illogical. I would have preferred to just see them offed early on and been done with it; and the “hero,” if you will, didn’t grab my attention once. Then we get the obnoxious, skirt chasing, frat guy who cares more about getting laid than anything or anyone else around him. His scene at the pool has a healthy dose of female nudity so parents beware if you still for some bizarre reason (too cheap to pop for a babysitter?) consider bringing your young kids to this movie.

*TANGENT* Folks I am by no means telling you how to be parents but I promise you this is not a film for kids – teens maybe, but no way should children see this. I say that because a woman, who I assume was the “cool mom,” walked in with children ranging from 15 down to 8 years old! I’m surprised she didn’t just pass around a Jack Daniels bottle and a doobie. *END TANGENT*

Continue reading The Final Destination review.

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WB Comic-Con Lineup, Featuring Green Lantern: First Flight

Kofi Outlaw — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:50:28 +0000

Warner Bros. recently released the lineup of panels they’ll be presenting at the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con International. So if you are headed to Comic-Con this year and are a fan of Sherlock Holmes, Where The Wild Things Are, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Book Of Eli, Jonah Hex or even The Final Destination, then you’ll need to know where and when to show up for the panels.

Lucky for you Screent Rant loves our readers and has a nice list of the Warner Bros. panels at Comic-Con all ready for you, including the one that is my most anticipated: a preview screening of DC Universe’s animated feature Green Lantern: First Flight!

If you weren’t at the New York Comic Con screening of DC Universe’s last animated feature, Wonder Woman, you have no idea how enjoyable an event it can be. DC Universe tends to make more adult-oriented animated fare (Superman:Doomsday), which is a perfect blend for a Comic-Con crowd, a.k.a., a room full of adults who love animated superheroes.

Green Lantern: First Flight will premiere on Thursday July 23, 2009, in the San Diego Convention Center’s Ballroom 20 @8pm. If you want a look at the trailer for First Flight, go here.

First Flight is being helmed by DC Universe’s Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman) with Bruce Timm producing. Lending their voices to the film will be Christopher Meloni (Law And Order: SVU) as Hal Jordan; Victor Garber (ALIAS) as Hal Jordan’s nemesis, Sinestro; Michael Madsen as Hal Jordan’s alien mentor, Kilowog; and the lovely Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica) as Green Lantern Corps member, Boodikka.

Green Lantern: First Flight will also be available as a special edition 2-disc DVD and Blu-Ray™ Hi-Def on July 28, 2009. A sincgle disc DVD will also be available.

Here is a quick itinerary on the other films Warner Bros. will be showing off at Comic Con this year:

Thursday, July 23rd
3:30pm-4:30pm 3D SHOWCASE PRESENTATION IN HALL H
Film: The Final Destination
Talent: Craig Perry (producer)

Friday, July 24th
10:15am-12:30pm WARNER BROS. PRESENTATION IN HALL H
Films: Where The Wild Things Are, The Book Of Eli, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Box, Jonah Hex, Sherlock Holmes
Talent: TBD

1:45pm-2:45pm PRESENTATION AND Q & A W/ ROBERT RODRIGUEZ IN ROOM 6DE
Film: Shorts
Talent: Robert Rodriguez (director)

Which Warner Bros. film are you most looking forward to?

Sources: Slash Film & IESB

Header Image Source: Film School Rejects

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First Trailer For ‘The Final Destination’

Ross Miller — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:34:25 +0000

Last week we got the teaser poster for The Final Destination, the fourth (and presumably last) installment in the teen-horror series. The poster was admittedly pretty cool, but definitely nothing to rave from the rooftops about.

Well today we’re getting another taste of The Final Destination in the form of a full trailer, featuring teases of some of the predictably silly death scenes the Final Destination series is best known for.

The Final Destination is using 3D to hook people in for another go at the successful horror franchise. Since the deaths are silly, the acting is wooden, and even the title isn’t as clever as it thinks it is, the filmmakers needed something to make this latest installment more worthwhile than just renting the first three Final Destination movies. Looks like they found their gimmick solution. Check out the trailer for The Final Destination, and let the silliness ensue:

[See post to watch Flash video]

I don’t know about you, but I think that trailer looks incredibly dumb and silly. At the end of the day it just looks like more of what we’ve had from the first three Final Destination movies, only wrapped in slicker, shinier, packing with a 3D bow on top. But never once during that trailer did I fear for the lives of those young ‘uns; neither did I cheer at the hinted-at death of them. I should have felt one or the other, fear or fun, but the trailer left me stranded on the unfortunate middle ground of “who cares?”

Obviously we can’t sample how The Final Destination is going to look in 3D, what with our regular old computer monitors. But by the looks of the trailer, it seems very obvious that they’ve stuck in dozens of things coming towards to the screen just for the sake of them “popping out” at the audience in 3D.

The Final Destination looks to be the type of gimmicky 3D movie that gives the technology a bad name. When used in a more subtle way (as I hear Pixar’s latest movie, UP, does) 3D can be an amazing experience. Unfortunately, more often than not what we get is a gimmick… and it’s a gimmick that I think wears off very quickly.

I’m not totally against the Final Destination franchise – the first three so far provided some morbid fun even if technically speaking they’re bad movies. However, to me, the franchise passed it’s sell-by date years ago.

I really hope this is the FINAL Final Destination…

What do you think of the first trailer for The Final Destination? Do you think it looks any better or worse than the first three movies? And do you think the 3D will add anything worthwhile to the experience?

The Final Destination is slated for an August 28th, 2009 release.

Source: MySpace

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Teaser Poster For ‘The Final Destination’

Ross Miller — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:55:49 +0000

Thanks to UGO, we have the first teaser poster for The Final Destination, the fourth, and presumably final (see what I did there?) installment in the surprisingly successful teen horror franchise. Eric Bress and David R. Ellis (who wrote and directed the second movie, respectively) are back for the fourth movie, which stars Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Krista Allen, Mykelti Williamson, Haley Webb, Nick Zano, Andrew Fiscella and Richard T. Jones.

The Final Destination will be in 3D, which can be assumed is the trick the studio has up its sleeve to hook audiences into a franchise that’s gone past it’s sell-by-date already. Before we get to the poster, here’s the synopsis the studio has for the movie:

On what should have been a fun-filled day at the races, Nick O’Bannon has a horrific premonition in which a bizarre sequence of events causes multiple race cars to crash, sending flaming debris into the stands, brutally killing his friends and causing the upper deck of the stands to collapse on him. When he comes out of this grisly nightmare Nick panics, persuading his girlfriend, Lori, and their friends, Janet and Hunt, to leave… escaping seconds before Nick’s frightening vision becomes a terrible reality. Thinking they’ve cheated death, the group has a new lease on life, but unfortunately for Nick and Lori, it is only the beginning. As his premonitions continue and the crash survivors begin to die one-by-one–in increasingly gruesome ways–Nick must figure out how to cheat death once and for all before he, too, reaches his final destination.

Sounds just about the same as what we’ve had three times now already. Anyway, here’s the pretty cool teaser poster for The Final Destination:

(click for a larger version)

I’ve never been a huge fan of the Final Destination series. They’re not terrible movies – they provide some shocking and entertaining jump scares whenever a prime-for-the-kill teen gets offed. But the formula that they can never escape their fate of death only sufficed for one, maybe two movies. The third was entirely unnecessary (not to mention the worst of the three), and the fourth one, it stands to reason, will follow suit.

The teaser poster is pretty cool, I guess, but the tagline “Rest In Pieces” seems like such an obvious thing to choose. I like the use of the skull and the mirror broken on top of it, though.

Just for kicks, check out a couple of images from the movie (click on the images for larger versions):

As far as The Final Destination being in 3D goes, I’m not thrilled with the idea. Most often 3D is used as a visual gimmick and that the novelty of wears off very quickly. The only reason I can see for them employing it within this film is to give it a bit of an edge over most other horror movies (although things like My Bloody Valentine 3D and Scar 3D have already floundered in the 3D horror film market), and also to exaggerate the jump scare/kill scenes.

I guess it will be a little bit more of an experience seeing someone get their head chopped off in 3D. But I sense, just as both the formula of the series and the 3D technology usually does, the novelty will wear off pretty damn quickly.

What do you make of this first teaser poster for the fourth Final Destination movie? Do you think this really will be the final destination for the series, or do you think there will be another on the way if this one does well at the box office?

The Final Destination is scheduled to be released on August 28, 2009

Source: UGO and ComingSoon.net

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